ONGAR HUNDRED 



MORETON 



were to be elected at the meeting, were to be an alder- 

 man, two masters, a clerk, and a dean. At the feast 

 after mass the allowance of ale was graduated to the 

 status of the officers; the alderman had a gallon for 

 himself and his guests, each master a pottle, the clerk 

 a pottle, and the dean a quart. The clerk was to receive 

 idd. and the dean id. a year. Every new member of 

 the guild was to pay 2/. dd. 'to the sustynance and to 

 the fortherance of the gylde' and \d. each to the clerk 

 and to the dean. When a member died the guild 

 masters were to sing masses 'of the costys of the gylde' 

 and all members 'wythin the towne and having 

 knowynge thereof were, under penalty of \d., to 

 attend the funeral and 'to ofFyre for the sawle at the 

 mess done therfor a \d^ The Vicar of Moreton was 

 to be paid 4^. \d. every year to pray and say masses 

 every Sunday for guildsmen. It was further laid down 

 that if any member 'fall into old age or into great 

 poverty nor have noth wharwyth to be founden nor to 

 helpe hymselfe' he was to have \d. a week of the goods 

 of the guild as long as its chattels were worth \os. or 

 more. If there were several such needy members, the 

 \d. was to be divided between them. It was also laid 

 down that if a member accused any of his brethren of 

 a trespass he should not in the first instance have re- 

 course to the common law but should submit to the 

 arbitration of 2 to 4 guildsmen. If the arbitration 

 failed the alderman could license the disputants to go 

 to law but if any member refused to submit to arbitra- 

 tion in the first instance, he was to pay \od. to the 

 guild. Under a statute of 1504** every brother was 

 to have at his death five priests, and every sister two 

 priests, each of whom was to have \d. at the cost of the 

 guild; on every such occasion dd. was to be given in 

 bread to the poor people of the parish. There is no 

 later reference to this guild.*' 



The house known as Black Hall or Guildhall Cottage, 

 at Moreton End, is traditionally supposed to have been 

 the meeting place of the Guild of All Saints. The 

 evidence of the building itself, which dates from the 

 later 15th century, confirms this. The comparatively 

 elaborate moulding of the timbers internally and the " 

 reports of carving externally also suggest a building of 

 more status than a small domestic house of the period. 

 The present house (see plate facing p. 137) is L-shaped 

 and consists of what was originally an open hall of two 

 bays with a two-story gabled wing at its north end. The 

 external wall at the south end of the hall is of later con- 

 struction and incorporates an arch-braced roof truss. 

 It has been suggested*^ that the hall may originally have 

 had an additional bay, used for service purposes, at this 

 end. Original door-heads at the front and back of the 

 hall, adjacent to this south truss, would be consistent 

 with a screens passage between the service bay and the 

 hall proper. The two remaining bays of the hall are 

 divided by another arch-braced roof truss of a more 

 elaborate character. This has been partially enclosed in 

 a later partition, but the moulded wall posts and a king- 

 post with a moulded base can still be seen. The north 

 cross-wing, corresponding to the 'solar wing' of a 

 domestic building, has two rooms to the ground floor 

 and two above. In each case these were connected 



by doorways of which the four-centred heads remain. 

 On both floors the front rooms are the more elaborately 

 finished: the room below has moulded ceiling timbers, 

 and that above has stop-moulded wall plates and an 

 arch-braced roof truss of which only the lower part is 

 now visible. There are indications that the back room 

 on the first floor was once subdivided. In many cases 

 the original position of the windows, some now blocked, 

 can be traced. Externally the building is covered with 

 rough-cast which is said to conceal carved or moulded 

 timbers, in particular a carved sill to the first floor win- 

 dow at the front of the cross-wing.*' At the north-west 

 corner, where the first floor oversails on both sides, is a 

 moulded angle post and curved bracket. This post 

 supports a diagonal or 'dragon' beam. Many of the 

 alterations, including the insertion of the hall ceiling, 

 the chimneys, and the present front door, probably date 

 from the late i6th or early 17th century. At this date or 

 later a small staircase wing was inserted in the angle 

 between the hall block and the cross-wing. 



In 1 8 1 3 a house in Moreton was licensed for wor- 

 ship by nonconformists.'" In 

 NONCONFORMITY 1 829 the Revd. J. Corbishley 

 of Abbess Roding (q.v.) 

 reported that he sometimes preached at Moreton." 

 Some of his hearers may have formed the nucleus of the 

 later Congregational society. This appears to have been 

 started about 1850, when Mr. Vale, the evangelist 

 from North Weald (q.v.), began preaching at More- 

 ton.'2 Vale's work at Moreton, which was assisted by 

 a small annual grant from the Essex Congregational 

 Union, was so successful that by 1 856 his Sunday even- 

 ing congregation numbered 80—100, and there were 

 also a Sunday school attended by 30 children and an 

 adult evening school.'^ About this time Vale moved 

 to Moreton, where he continued to minister until 

 about 1873.'* In 1857 it was reported that the Sunday 

 school had been given up owing to opposition from 

 neighbouring clergy 'who used promises and threats 

 to deter attendance', but in spite of this the work 

 flourished. In 1862 a church was built at a cost of 

 £150. In 1875 A. M. Kemsley, an evangehst, had 

 charge of the church under the superintendence of the 

 Revd. J. R. Clarkson of Chipping Ongar. In the follow- 

 ing year the Revd. W. Passmore, formerly of Welling 

 (Kent), started to work at Moreton. Since that time 

 the church has continued with fluctuating fortunes. 

 It has frequently been under the pastoral charge of the 

 minister from Chipping Ongar. In 1904 there were 

 7 church members, 34 pupils in the Sunday school, 

 and 3 teachers.'s From 1939 to 1948 there was a lay 

 evangehst, Mr. W. J. Frost.'* In 1950 there were 18 

 members, 15 pupils, and 3 teachers." Since 191 1 the 

 church has been vested in the Essex Congregational 

 Union.'* The building is of gault brick with red 

 brick dressings and is dated 1862. 



The earliest parish book ( 1 666-1 81 5) for Moreton 

 was kept and written by 

 PARISH GOFERNMENT the rector.'' In it the . 

 AND POOR RELIEF rectors from Jacob " 



Houblon to William 

 Salisbury recorded every Easter from 1666 until 1761 



*^ Ibid. 131— 2. The date 1404. given in 

 the printed text is almost certainly a 

 misprint for 1 504.. 



*' It is not mentioned in the Chantry 

 Certificates of 1546 and 1548 (E301/19, 

 20 and 30). 



" Hist. Men. Com. Records, revised 

 1953- 



<"> Inf. from Mr. Talbot, present oc- 

 cupier. '» E.R.O., 52/RRw I. 



'■ E.R.O., Q/CR 3/2. The Revd. Isaac 

 Taylor of Chipping Ongar also preached 

 at Moreton at this time. 



'2 Essex Congr. Union Reps. 1850. 



'3 Ibid. 1856. 



'* Ibid. 1857 f. Unless otherwise stated 



subsequent information in this section is 

 from these reports. 



75 Cong. Tear Bk. 1904. 



" Ibid. 1939-48. " Ibid. 1950. 



78 Essex Congr. Union Trust Deeds. 



'» E.R.O., D/P 72/8/1. Unless other- 

 wise stated-all information in the follow- 

 ing account is based on this source. 



137 



